Product: EyeTV 250 (hardware) and EyeTV 2.0 (software)
Company: Elgato www.elgato.com
Overall Rating: 4.5/5

For a long time, many Mac users had difficulty finding a good solution for watching TV on their computer. While there were many options available for the PC (like solutions from pinnacle – http://www.pinnaclesys.com) there wasn’t a great way to watch TV on the Mac. That was until I got a hold of an “EyeTV 250″ from Elgato (http://www.elgato.com). Elgato makes what is probably the most popular software for watching and recording TV on the Mac. They also make great hardware to go along with it. This review will look both at the “EyeTV 250″ hardware, that enables one to plug regular analogue TV into their computer and Elgato’s awesome software “EyeTV 2″.

The Hardware:

The EyeTV 250, is a small, USB 2.0 based piece of hardware that converts a standard analogue TV connection to a USB input for your computer. The package also comes with a fully featured remote that has everything you would expect to see on a regular TV remote, as well as more features.

What I liked about the hardware:

The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was how small the EyeTV 250 was. Even with the pictures of the website, the small size was still a good surprise. This allowed me to discretely place the unit on the ground (under or next to my computer) without even noticing it was there taking up any extra room. A great bonus to the standard cable connection is the adapter (that comes with the unit), which allows you to connect other devices, such as a VCR, DVD player or gaming console via S-Video or RCA connections.

What I didn’t like about the hardware:

The only negative about the hardware would have to be the remote. While the remote has all the standard features (and more) that you would expect of any remote, I found the working range of the remote to be quite short. With the EyeTV 250 located under my desk, the remote worked fine from about 2-4 feet away. However, at certain angles and at a distance of more than 4 ft, the remote scarcely works. Due to this issue, I have resulted in not using the remote and instead use my Kensington remote to change channels and adjust volume. (You can also control the EyeTV software via the keyboard or on screen menu).

Overall hardware rating: 4/5

The hardware is great and works as expected, I just wish the remote was had a little extra range. Even though I found a solution with my Kensington remote, it has far fewer buttons and thus gives me access to much less EyeTV features when I’m not directly in front of my computer.

The software:

What I liked about the software:

The best part of this whole package is definitely the software. It was clearly created bottom up from the user’s perspective and works intuitively. Acting like a “Tivo” the EyeTV software allows you to easily program the device to record any show directly to your hard-drive. The interface has some similar features to iTunes and you shouldn’t have a problem using the program even if you’ve never seen it. The preferences allow you to control all types of things such as recording quality, export options and even lets you chose to de-interlace the image so it looks great on a computer monitor (de-interlacing is a method of converting interlaced images – which have two separate image fields in each frame and are used with traditional television monitors- to one normal smooth frame, which is used with most computer monitors).

All recordings are saved in a specified location and are easily navigable with the EyeTV software, which also easily lets you export recordings to Toast (for DVD or VCD) or iPod (to watch on your iPod or view in iTunes).

The program guide, probably the coolest feature of the program, shows you a complete list of shows for every channel for the whole day and can automatically update with an internet connection. You can then click on any program within the program guide to easily set EyeTV to record it. (Note that the program guide requires a that you sign up to TitanTV (in the US) for free or to tvtv.com (in europe), which is free for one year). The program guide is also searchable which makes it really easy to see when your favorite programs will be on.

EyeTV even includes a really simple, really easy-to-use editor for getting out those annoying commercials before you watch your favorite show or export it to iPod.

While I’m not a big-time gamer, I did hook up my Xbox360 and NES (thats right, I just said I hooked up my NES) and was really thrilled with the result. The picture quality certainly doesn’t match that of a TV and I did notice some lag (mostly in sports games like NHL 2007 on XBOX) but all in all it provided a great solution that allowed a casual video game player to relax and have some fun while taking breaks from work.

What I didn’t like about the software:

When we first tested the product, the EyeTV software we were using was an older version that was making our computer crash (PowerMac G5). The new 2.0 version seems to have cleared up those issues, though the program does lock-up from time to time when trying to quit.
Currently the EyeTV software uses TitanTV for users in the U.S. and tvtv.com in Europe, to get information for the built-in program guide. Unfortunately, EyeTV does not officially offer the use of the built-in program guide for Canadian users. This was initially a huge drawback, but I have found a great solution.

A recently released program called MacProgramGuide, allows users to get TV listings for Canada and the US directly in the built-in EyeTV program guide. Be careful though, it’s a little complicated to set up and isn’t officially supported by Elgato. However, I use it and it has made my EyeTV experience complete.

Overall Software Rating: 5/5

The EyeTV software is amazing, well built and functions great. Ya there might be a bug or two, but they don’t cause much trouble and they seem to disappear with each upgrade. With each version the program gets better and better. A recently released upgrade, version 2.3.2, adds support for picture-in-picture, great for watching a recorded program and the hockey game at the same time. If you have hardware with two tuners, you could even have real picture-in-picture. The only thing missing from the software is a “float above all windows” option. When browsing the web, emailing or doing work, the EyeTV screen can get lost behind other apps. It would be great if you could chose to keep the EyeTV window in front of all other windows so that I could watch TV and do some work at the same time. I’m sure this feature is in the works and look forward to seeing it in a future release.

Overall rating 4.5/5

The EyeTV is by far the best solution for anyone looking to watch TV on their Mac. The software has some awesome features that make the user’s experience smooth and enjoyable. The hardware is sophisticated and works as expected. All in all, the EyeTV just works and I couldn’t imagine not having it now that i’ve used it for some time. Scheduling TV shows to automatically record has given me more flexibility and left me not having to worry about setting the VCR or dreaming for a Tivo. If you’re looking to watch TV on your computer, or need some extra room and are thinking about getting rid of your TV, I definately recommend you check out Elgato.com. (Elgato also has hardware solutions for digital, terrestrial and satellite tv)






Related Stories: